The Wubblog/Archives (March 2005)
March 02, 2005 - Studio Gallery Our show is being produced at Film Roman, which is kind of strange for me because that is where I started in the animation industry about 15 years ago. It is a very different place now. But one thing has stayed the same, The studio gallery. Just off the 2nd floor lobby there is a long hallway that is used as a gallery space. Sometimes the shows are by artists who work at Film Roman and other times they are outside artists. During my 7 years working at at Film Roman, I had 2 shows in the gallery. They were paintings/shadow boxes (see below) that really had nothing to do with animation. Although when I look back on it now I can see a common thread. Currently there is a great show featuring the work of Jordan Crane, Sam Henderson, Johnny Ryan, and Steven Weissman. The studio is located at 12020Chandler Blvd. North Hollywood 2nd floor and the gallery is open during working hours. Call for more info @ 818-761-2544. March 02, 2005 - Studio Gallery.jpg March 02, 2005 - Studio Gallery 2.jpg March 02, 2005 - Studio Gallery 3.jpg March 03, 2005 - Oh yeah, ...the book! In all of the excitement of putting together the animated series, it is easy to forget that the whole thing started with a book. Eric Homan at Frederator called the other day to remind me that I need to finish up the revised text for the Wubby, Widget, and Walden children's book. (you can see a rough spread from original book pitch above) When I was in NYC in January I pitched a new story idea to Random House and they were on board with it. Since then it has been on the back burner as we try to get the show up and running. I guess it's time to juggle some of the pots on the stove and get to work! March 03, 2005 - Oh yeah, ...the book!.jpg March 06, 2005 - Write On! Got notes from Nick Jr. on the premises. Very positive feedback with very helpful comments. I need to be conscious about words and concepts which might be foreign to little kids. This is where Nick Jr.'s experience in the pre-school arena will be invaluable! We picked a premise to move forward with and now it's on to the outline and script. While I work on that we are having other writers move forward with developing more premises. March 06, 2005 - Write On!.jpg March 08, 2005 - Development Art I have started a new photo album of development art. It's just alot of rough drawings right now, but I will continue to add things periodically so that you can see how the show evolves visually. March 08, 2005 - Development Art.jpg March 12, 2005 - Is there a doctor in the house? I went to see an exhibit of the Art of Dr. Seuss that is touring around the nation. What a prolific guy he was! We all know about the many books that he did in his lifetime but this exhibit focused on the other things that he did in his career. Editorial cartoons, advertising, paintings, and taxidermy. Yes taxidermy! He made these really cool sculptures of his strange creatures as fake taxidermy. His whimsical worlds and endless creativity have always been an inspiration. March 12, 2005 - Is there a doctor in the houseQ.jpg March 12, 2005 - Is there a doctor in the houseQ 2.jpg March 14, 2005 - What's The Story? Below are some log lines for the first round of premises that were submitted to the network. All the stories were generally well recieved and I wrote up an outline for the "Tale Of Tails" episode. We should get notes on that shortly. In the meantime we have other writers generating premises with the hope that we will find a few writers to bring on staff. It's a lot of fun to see what other people do with the characters that I have lived with for so long. It's all part of the process of figuring out who these characters really are. And as a side note, the Wubblog lawyers have informed me that I should let everyone know that we will not be accepting any premises through the blog, or through e-mail, or through anything. LOG LINES: Monster Madness: Through her 'Monster Masher' machine and his level-headed rationale, Widget, and Walden help Wubby overcome his fear of monsters (precipitated by a cheesy late-night scary movie). Goo-Goo Grief: Wubby, Widget, and Walden try to figure out why the Goo-Goo (a large elephant-type creature) on Wubby's front lawn is so sad. The Wubby Shuffle: Widget and Wubby learn the value of playing fair after Widget invents a pair of spring-loaded shoes for Wubby to cheat and win at jumpity-jump. A Clean Sweep: Widget and Walden assist Wubby in cleaning his house the old-fashioned way after Widget's Clean-O-Matic 3000 machine makes a bigger mess of the situation than before. A Tale of Tails: Widget and Walden help Wubby come to grips with his very different long and bendy tail. Ants in Your Pants: Walden constructs an ant farm to demonstrate teamwork to Wubby. Putting the lesson to good use, Wubby, Widget, and Walden must work as a team to rid the house of ants after the bugs escape from their community. Out of Shape: Wubby, Widget, and Walden journey through Triangle Town, Squaresville, Roundberg, and Squiggle City as they help Mr. Triangle get back to his home in Triangle Town. Tubby Wubby: Wubby goes on a diet and exercise regime after he gains weight from eating too many of Walden's pies. Mr. Know-it-All: Walden gets an extreme makeover when he attempts to shed his image as a quirky intellectual. Plaidville or Bust: Wubby, Widget, and Walden visit Wubby's cousin in Plaidville, where everything is exciting and new. A Little Help from your Friends: Wubby's house turns into a disaster area when he cooks dinner for Widget and Walden. Finding Filbert: Wubby discovers a new friend: his shadow, whom he names Filbert. Wings for Wubby: Wubby wonders what it would be like to fly. Widget builds him a nice pair of wings which don't quite work. But with the help of Walden, a couple of balloons allow Wubby to experience the sensation of flying. A Stream of Distractions: Wubby gets distracted while washing the dishes and leaves the faucet running, accidentally flooding the whole town. March 14, 2005 - What's The StoryQ.jpg March 17, 2005 - What's A Wubby? The original name of the children's book that this whole project started with was 'Flopsy, Mopsy, and Ted". But for legal reasons we had to change the name. I'm glad that we did because the names that we have now are really reflective of who the characters are. But, what's a Wubby you ask? One reader wrote in to say that Wubby was a nickname for his newborn daughter (wiggly and chubby). Actually the name was inspired by my girlfriends cousin Rodney who referred to his childhood security blanket as a "wubby". Either way, the name seems appropriate. I just hope that Wubby doesn't mean something naughty in a small Scandinavian country. (And yes, that is a photo of my wubby. I guess Mom and Dad were expecting a girl!) March 17, 2005 - What's A WubbyQ.jpg March 18, 2005 - Flashback Friday! When I left Nickelodeon to start up this project, the crew gave me a bunch of cool gifts. One of which was this drawing that Butch Hartman (creator of The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom) did for me. It reminds me of the full page ad that ran in Variety when Mel Blanc passed away. It was a drawing of all the classic Warner Brothers characters standing there looking really sad. Luckily, I didn't have to die to get a cool drawing done for me! March 18, 2005 - Flashback Friday!.jpg March 21, 2005 - On Schedule! As we develop the first few scripts for the show, we are continuing to work out the details of our production schedule. A nice fellow named Kevin has been helping get our production up and running and has done a ton of different versions of the schedule. He'll come up with a version and I'll say "that's cool but can't we get more time for _________ ?" And the next day, he comes back with 2 more different versions. Of course, the one's that I think will work best always manage to put us over budget! As frustrating as TV production schedules can be, it is really exciting to see that the start of production is right around the corner! March 21, 2005 - On Schedule!.jpg March 22, 2005 - Ride The Ring! The Wubblog is now proud to be a part of the Children's Illustrator Blog Ring. If you're not familiar with it you should check it out (see link below)! This ring of sites provides a great insight into creating illustrations for children's books, magazines, greeting cards, and much more. While the Wubblog has focused primarily on the animated show thus far, things should get all mixed up once the book goes into full production. It will be interesting to see how the two different mediums affect each other. March 22, 2005 - Ride The Ring!.gif March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character As exciting as it has been to see the characters come to life in the stories that we are developing, as an artist it is great to finally be developing the characters visually! We are trying to take the quick drawings that were done for the pitch bible and make them into more polished designs for animation. A rough drawing was scanned in and cleaned up nice and pretty in Flash. Luckily I have two AMAZING artists that are helping me. Their names are Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua. They are both incredible designers who have worked on way too many things to mention. They are currently on the Disney show "The Buzz on Maggie" and have a pilot in the works at Nickelodeon. Do your selves a favor and check out the amazing work on their websites: super-macho.com and fulanita.com . You can also check out a feature on Jorge at coldhardflash.com . They have been great to work with! I do an initial drawing, they clean it up, I make really picky notes, and they adjust the drawing. We go back and forth until we like where we're at. And it's all done via e-mail! They are now working on turn arounds based on these drawings. I'll post them when they are done! March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 2.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 3.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 4.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 5.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 6.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 7.jpg March 24, 2005 - Evolution of a Character 8.jpg March 28, 2005 - Title Time! Well from the very beginning we all agreed that the title Wubby, Widget, and Walden was a mouthful. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. Jakers-The Adventures of Piggley Winks is certainly a bit more complicated than the more straight forward titles like: Little Bill, Madeline, or Dora The Explorer. But when people you work with refer to the show as "Wabbie, Walder, and Wedgie" and my niece refers to it as "Wibby, Wudget, and W...whatchamacallit" it might be smart to at least consider a few options. At this point the show seems like an ensemble show with Wubby as the central character. Does that mean that we should have all the characters names in the title? Not necessarily. "Seinfeld" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" were ensemble shows centered around one character. While there are lots of things to think about, here were a few of the ideas we batted around: Wubby's World! Wubby! Wubby! Wubby! The Wonderful Adventures of Wubby! Wow! Wow! Wubby! Wubby A Go-Go! Go Wubby! Go! Wuzzleburg! (the place they live) Wubby and Friends! Wubby! At this point the current favorites are: "Wow! Wow! Wubby!", which has a lot of energy. or "Wubby!", which is simple and direct. So what do you think? March 28, 2005 - Title Time!.jpg March 29, 2005 - Turn! Turn! Turn! Now that we have nailed down the 3/4 views of the characters it's time to turn them. Here are a few more examples of the back and forth between Sandra and myself. March 29, 2005 - Turn! Turn! Turn!.jpg March 29, 2005 - Turn! Turn! Turn! 2.jpg March 31, 2005 - wubtitles! The discussion and debate about the title rages on! It seems like "Wubby!" has a slight lead over "Wow! Wow! Wubby!". And there is some talk about staying with the original "Wubby, Widget, and Walden!". But while we sort all that out here is a "Top Ten List" of titles for the Wubby Show (submitted by a friend). It's actually a top 45 list but whatever. Something Wubby This Way Comes Honey I Shrunk the Wubby Citizen Wubby Meet The Wubbies Wonder Wubbies Wubby Squad WubbyMania American Wubby Samurai Wubby Finding the Incredible Wubbies 101 Wubbies Aaahh! Real Wubbies Leave It To Wubby Wubbie Dearest Wubbies Gone Wild Just Wubbies Wubby Island The Secret Life of Wubbies Glengarry Glen Wubby Here Come the Wubbies That's My Wubby Wet Hot Wubbies What's Up, Wubby? We"re Wubbies, We're Wacky, We're Wacky and We're Wubbies You've Got Wubbies What, Me Wubby? My Three Wubbies Please Watch the Wubbies Pardon My Wubby Codename: Hi Hi Puffy Mucha Wubby Mars Needs Wubbies Wubby Nuts Wubby Toons Wad O' Wubbies Happy Happy Wubby Wubby Wubby Academy The Angry Wubbies All My Wubbies The Brand New Wubby Show W.U.B.B.Y. Where's Wubby? Network Approved Wubby Stories The Fairly Sponge Wubbies Wubbies in Flash Got Wubbies? March 31, 2005 - wubtitles!.jpg Category:The Wubblog Category:2005